It’s been a fun ride, and the Shana vs Belldandy match is one for the ages (I’m impressed… never thought I’d see 200 comments on this blog). In the end, Belldandy’s fans were a bit more organized than Shana’s and pulled out a victory. Now, it’s time for the final match for the championship… Chidori vs Belldandy.

The final match pits #3 seed Chidori against #7 Belldandy. Chidori had a relatively easy path to victory by first stomping the torso-less Suigintou 60 to 40 then conquering a fate-less Nanoha 61 to 39. Meanwhile, Belldandy had her hands full with the bouncy, curvy Mai 53 to 47 and the extremely flat Shana 51 to 49. As a reminder, the rules for March Madness are: in a modified format, all of the heroines who have won a poll (and I tossed in two more “at large” bids to make it an even eight) will go at it heroine vs. heroine until there is only one. They are seeded by how well they performed in their previous polls, and the first and second round matches last three days. However, since this is the final, it will last for one week.

Chidori is originally from the Full Metal Panic novels, which span everything from high school romance to mecha to slapstick comedy. Belldandy is originally from ああっ女神さまっ manga, which slowed evolved into a slice of life type series after 18 years. Chidori is portrayed as the violent yet sensitive protector/protectee of Sagara. FMP just doesn’t work without her. Belldandy is portrayed as the perfect yet human protector/protectee of Keiichi. AMS just doesn’t work without her. Edge: Even.

Color

Chidori’s appeal stems from how she’s a pretty normal anime high school girl. Even though she’s a whispered, she doesn’t flount it. She can be as impulsive and strongheaded as the next person, yet turn soft the next minute. However, some of her greatest moments were when she acted larger than a mere mortal, like at the beginning of the original series where she directs Sagara into using the lambda drive for the first time… or when she becomes pissed off instead of scared going through the haunted hospital with Sagara in Fumoffu (and the memorable bike ride back)… or when took on the twincest assassin by herself, took off to a wartorn Hong Kong by herself, just to kick Sagara’s ass back in gear.

Belldandy’s appeal stems from how she’s a goddess. She’s supposed to be an almost perfect woman, yet she is not perfect. She shows her humanity with her occasional bits of jealously over K1, and, more importantly, her love with K1. However, some of her greatest moments were when she acted less like a goddess, like her pantheon scene in the movie where breaks down and decides to undergo the vaccination because it hurt her too much to not remember her memories of K1… or when she gives floors Urd and Skuld by suggesting that they name their band, “Belldandy’s Angels”… or when she gets jealous of Sayoko getting close to K1 and challenges Sayoko on the dancefloor.

One is a human who can act like a goddess… occasionally. The other is a goddess who can act like a human… occasionally. Edge: Even.

See, this sucks because these are two of my all time favorites! In the end, though, I have to give it to Kana-chan. A real girl wins out over an idealized goddess in my book. Sorry Bell. I still love you!

Calm down my friends, as Jason said, we have an entire week for the final match, In just what, 7 horus more than 120 votes? This is going to be great… I think more than 1200 votes and 300 comments… why not?

I have a theory on the picks. It’d seem that the winning combination is not just a woman who is intriguing and essential to the plot of her series, but also has a very dynamic relationship with her male counterpart.

Saber for example, is a very interesting character, but the Saber-emiya combo pales to the Shana-yuuji combo. So that match went to shana. Mai also lost (though in a very close match) to Bel, since while Mai seems to have as many fans singly, the Belldandy-Morisato combo is pretty hard to best.

Suigintou, had no chance against Chidori, since while she’s an awesome character on her own, I think Hina Ichigo and Shinku would’ve had a better chance, though still not beat the Chidori-Sagara combo.

What we have left is the two characters with the strongest male relationships, and I think a lot of guys can relate to that (or wish they could, either way are attracted to it). My vote goes for chidori, though bell comes in a very close second.

I don’t see Baltar having too many more opportunities to screw people over after the finale of season 2. Oh sure, humanity is screwed now, but if Adama has any doubts about former Madam President Roslyn’s memory of our favorite crazy traitor attacking 6’s mouth with his tongue, they’d be dispelled by now. Additionally, plenty of imaginary “tough girl” characters fit the profile, except for the few that are ruthless and unprincipled, the very best of Miyazaki’s antagonists from Mononoke Hime and Nausicaa. Finally, a Bell cylon template would be counterproductive to any Cylon agenda intended to be malevolent.

Indeed, their relationship with their companions are strong, but is hard to say how good each combo is better, because Chidori-Sagara had to fight evil men, mechas with Lamba Drivr, perverted maniacs, social scum, etc. Meanwhile, Belldandy and K1 really don’t have a strong enemy (sorry, I don’t read the manga, my opinion is only based on OVAs and First Season). I want to give Belldandy-Keichii the benefit of doubt

Chidori is also a mathematical and science -genius- and can recite chemical formulas, laws of physics, and the mechanics of Sousuke’s Arbalest. (And if you’ve been keeping up with the books from Boku-tachi, she’s also a freaking genius.)

She’s also the only person who can really scare the hell out of and unnerve Sousuke.

Okay, and I meant “scientific genius”, the other one doesn’t make sense. And before someone snaps at me for it, yes, other people can recite laws of physics and chemical formulas, too. But not quite like Chidori.

And I repeated that she’s a genius. That post actually isn’t very coherent. But in any case, while I like Bell – well, if Bell’s best moments are when she acts human, Chidori is -always- human.

Poor Chidori; is true that she has a dark side, but only with Sousuke and some freaking bastards who want their way with her (Kurtz Weber or Leonard Tesstarosa for example). After “Continuing on my own” I think her dark side disappears definitely because… well you have to guess why.

Bell always seems to come from behind. I see three possible explanations for this.

1. Bell’s opponents have more rabid fanboys that vote right after the polls open, while Bell has more casual voters who do not frequent the website and vote for Bell only because they know who she is. This should not apply to Chidori though.

2. Bell has more cheaters, who can continue to vote everyday.

3. Jason is cheating for Bell. While I don’t think Jason would do this, this (and to a lesser extent explanation number 2) also explains why Bell always ends up winning by a close margin.

Oh well. I don’t really care about this match anyway. Both Bell and Chidori are only decent characters IMO. I voted for Chidori only because FMP is a better series.

Alas, Belldandy’s goddess status precludes her from being an interesting character. My previous vote for her over Shana stemmed largely from my disagreement over Shana beating Sabre. Go Chidori, you actually make for interesting stories!

Respect each other? Sure. I can do that, even if you voted for Hitler.

But a clean fight? When the name of Hitler has already been invoked, there is no longer a possibility of that. And clean fights are boring in any case. Grab a hose, truck in some dirt, and let’s get us some mud wrestling!

I’d cheat for Belldandy anyday, but I’ll receive her wrath for doing so i.e. Lightning Bolt me. I’m sure she’ll want this to be a fair one. Chidori too since she’ll probably whack me with her Paper Fan of Intolerance. Even if Belldandy is a goddess, she can’t possibly beat a Whispered in maths. You gotta need Skuld for that. For poor physical violence, Belldandy can’t do that… you need Urd for that :P. But if it’s divine punishment, Belldandy can definitely call for it.

I feel sorry for Chidori if people vote for her just to spite Belldandy. Come on Chidori lovers, show us your love for her! We of the BBB Club (Bravo Bravo Belldandy) shall stand against the CCC Club (Cool Cool Chidori)!!…. Wait… this isn’t Shuffle…

Ahh Finally I can hear Shuffle! without bad memories…
Thanks for that change Canvas 2…

Chidori has to win this madness, because if you talk about madness, Kaname Chidori wins the price, not because she was mad, indeed because she can control herself even when all is against her; and yet after every trial or tribulation, she cries or laughs like a normal girl at her age. I love her work in TSR for that.

Maths… read the manga and You’ll know that Bell is superb at maths and only loses to Skuld! Isn’t that right Bell fans? Lets have a clean, fair, honourable fight guys. May the best girl wins! (Casts Devotion on Bell)I’ll support you all the way! Heal me and do the +++ magic ok? (RO pun)^^ I like Crusaders and paladins! Go Bell! My High priest! White Mage! Angel! Cleric! Healer! Wavemaster!And most of all, my “Bidadari!!!”

“One is a human who can act like a goddess… occasionally. The other is a goddess who can act like a human… occasionally. Edge: Even.”

No. A goddess acting like a human is no big deal! They have infinte (or a lot) of power and can (apparently) do whatever they want.
But for a human to be so good to be compared to a goddess, thats unique.

There’s no way Chidori will win this :P Having the vote extend to a week will bring in all those older fans that prefer the “classics” or those who don’t know Chidori. And then, just the nostalgia factor of Belldandy will probably win the majority of fans over. This matchup will sadly be over in less than a week.

Of course I’m still praying for a knockout miracle from somewhere for Chidori…

Chidori all the way!!!! Belldandy is nice and pretty and all, but Kaname kicks major ass, and stands up for herself against a million different organizations that want to kidnap her, rape her brain, and then kill her. And lets not forget crazy men who look like women with long silver hair repeatedly proclaiming his love for her after kidnapping her, and a certain millitary misfit who loves her and would do anything for her (including blow up school lockers…)

These “Belldandy is just a soft and weak doormat” posts are really weak themselves. It would be as unfair of non-FMA fans saying Chidori is just a emotionally eratic girl with fits of violence. The soft, stepped upon Belldandy was shown in the OAVs, which is only what many people have seen of AMG, they didn’t have the time to let many of her other character traits shine.

In the TV series, she stands up against Aoshima when he is trashing talking the Auto Club and she is the one that really gets the racing challenge setup.

In the movie, she stands up against her old mentor and his lover, challenging their ideals and stands against them, but then challenges Heaven’s decision to kill him, in order to save Keiichi.

In the manga, she stands up to Hild when out of a fleeting moment of anger, attacks Keiichi. She even gladly accepts Hild’s race challenge, even though Hild has a faster broom (Or, vacuum cleaner).

Just because Belldandy’s doesn’t get loud, violent and vengeful when she gets defiant, doesn’t take anything away from those moments. So… go go Belldandy!

Don’t get me wrong, i really liked Belldandy, but it is Chidori, from my favorite anime. And my all time-fav anime girl.

Chidori has spunk, I do think this is a little rigged, b/c Belldandy has had like a LONG LONG time to build up fans. Chidori hasn’t had that long, what is more is I don’t think many people follow the novels.

We can’t exactly vote multiple times. It is keyed to your IP address, so you would have to go to a new location every single time you voted …quit whining when you are losing and accept that Belldandy is just a better woman!

You know what’s sad? The fact that every round Belldandy has appeared in, I have voted against her because of my spite for her perfection. And such was the case in the earlier rounds, but in this one, I know clear whom I’m voting for. Chidori. Why? She’s human. She’s not perfect. And she can actually be funny! Go, Chidori, go!

I also just realized something: Belldandy has had an unfair advantage in this whole contest since day one. Save for her, all the other contestents have yet to hit the five year mark. Belldandy’s been around for more than a decade! Of course she’s had time to build up her power base to keep anyone else from even thinking of muscling in on her territory down like a dog. Well played, Fujishima. You’ve crafted the ultimate villain in the form of someone everyone loves.

Belldandy is the greatest, if i were Keichi i would have made the same wish, sure Chidori may have be a bit more interesting. With Bell here flaws make her more human and though she may be soft spoken her beauty and power is strong and resilliant like no other. In the end who can beat the perfection of a goddess!!!

Going over the polls, I’ve come to the conlusion had Belldandy never been inducted into this, then things would have been on a more even keel. it should have been made for characters whose creation was within five years. Granted, it would have never gotten this heated, but it probably would have been better that way. Then perhaps we wouldn’t be seeing the ‘Chidori=Hitler’ angle or the “Bell is teh h4x0rs!” comments among the voters.

That being said, now show my churlish bias again by reiterating my previous statements. Bell is perfect, boring, and as evil as they come and she will win because she has the voters eating out of her hands.

I hate the fact that Bell’s going to win again over a character that actually changes and grows. If you’d placed Yoko Nakajima from 12 Kingdoms here, she probably would have gotten kicked out of the first round because there’s next to no fanservice with her design, despite the fact she’s got more character in her pinky than Bell does in her immaculate body.

This is obviously from a person who has no knowledge of the AMG storyline in any of its incarnations, and should thus be ignored. Belldandy is plenty dynamic, and in fact is FAR more realistically dynamic than many other anime characters. Just because she doesn’t have a complete personality makeover every episode doesn’t mean she doesn’t change. Why do you all have to keep bashing the characters? This is a fanpage, not a discussion page.

Don’t know which book this is in the series, as I don’t read Japanese, but the publishing date (you have to scroll down a bit to see it) says 1998/12, which is more than five years ago.

As to Belldandy’s personality…at least she is honest with herself about her feelings for Keiichi, which is much more than we can say for poor Chidori, who has gone through 2 entire series before she would even admit to herself that she liked Sauske, and even then she would deny it most of the time. I honestly got sick of the “I love you I hate you” crap way back with Love Hina. Not that I don’t enjoy the mechaness of FMP!. Or Tessa. Mmmm, Tessa…

Who says Bell is no fun? Have you people actually read AMG?
And stop calling her names. So far most Chidori fans only know how to diss Belldandy. Do you see many of us cursing Chidori? Shame on yourselfs. Say something nice about Chidori instead. Sheesh, Chidori’s Paper Fan should be used on some of the kids here.

Yeah, the Belldandy bashing is pretty lame. We speak of Belldandy’s gentle refinement, her strong heart and will, her ability to show how she feels without shouting. And what do the Chidori fans do?

“She’s a wimp!”
“She has no personality!”

Considering Belldandy behaves quite nicely and evenly throughout everything that goes on, you can say she has a personality. Chidori mainly just reacts to the situation, rather than contribute herself. So you could say she lacks one.

I got enough Chidori’s paper fan and incapableness to admit own feelings to Sousoke during first series. Fumoffu and second raid were good, but not because of her. More like she wasn’t irritating enough to ruin those too.

Belldandy is leading again, Thank God. Hmmm…. do I know you? “Mr./Ms./etc Don’t listen to hikaryu” you seem to speak my local tongue……… Anyways, may the best girl win, Bell all the way! May God bless us all with his big Barakah, especially Bell and her fanz!

If there’s anything I hate more, it’s being talked down to. Apologies to the site owner in advance.

My reasons for picking Chidori over Bell is as follows:

(Spoilers for The Second Raid and further into the AMG manga apply here)

There’s a single poingant scene in “The Second Raid”, where Chidori, finding no alternative to helping Sousuke get a hair cut, decides to do it herself. During that time, between slight and careful snips to make sure she doesn’t take off too much, she gently whispers into his ear, “I trust you, Sousuke.” Having only seen that and a few episodes of Fumofuu, I would venture a guess that this would have been nigh impossible in the first series, and only somewhat unlikely in the second, but to go so far as to say that she has grown to trust in Sousuke the way she has, shows a definate evolution of character. And it shows even more when the end of the series happens. And when he has to leave, she has to survive by her wits, the clothes on her back, and a little bit of luck to outwit a first rate assassin. She has no god-moding powers to make an easy escape with, no back-up, no nothing. Again, this would never had happened in the first FMP series.

Second; don’t misunderstand me; I think Bell’s a sweet girl and all, but I just think her character has gotten stagnent or ,rather, she’s too ideal. She trusted K1 from the beginning of the series and has not faltered in the least. That’s not entirely a bad thing, but it’s not entirely a good thing either.

The reason why some people prefer flawed characters is because we want to see them overcome those flaws and become better people. Bell’s flaws, however few there are, are mere quirks that can be just shrugged off until the next time they occur since it’s not a real problem. That also goes in tune with her character, which is meant to be in the present, the now, if you will. It makes an interesting character concept, yes, but it certainly doesn’t make an interesting character for growth. Also, FMP and AMG are two seperate genres. The former’s action, the latter’s ‘slice-o-life-ian’. However, given how long AMG’s gone, you’d think there was some sort of overarching plot. I mean, it’s been more than ten years and K1 and Bell still sleep in seperate rooms.

And despite the assumptions of others, I have read the manga, even up to some of the more recent scanlations, seen the original Animeigo OAVs, the movie, and even the Mini-Goddess series.

But, I guess the straw that broke the camel’s back was when Hild appeared during the ‘Angel Eater’ arc. Hild planted a demon inside of Bell and it looked like my longest and most evil wish had come true: Dark Side Belldandy. But alas, it was not to be since, Bell’s personality is so unchanging, that she purified the demon itself. It was a wasted oppertunity for some actual character development, but it looks like I was asking for too much.

In closing; I’m sorry that people find my opinion disagreeable, but what else is new?

Again, apologies to the site owner for a long and pedantic post for something so trivial in the long run.

Why do most belldandy fans see her flaws, and still vote for her?????
(The whole “no, she’s not perfect, look at her moments of insecurity, makes her more human” arguement)

Why do some belldandy fans refuse to see her faults, and vote for her because she’s “absolutely perfect”

Why do most non-chidori fans think that chidori’s personality is way too overdone, point out her flaws, and hence not vote for her?
(The whole “i’m tired of seeing rehash of love/hate relationships, she needs to move on” arguement)

Why do most chidori fans think that, because chidori isn’t “perfect,” she’s more believable, and hence vote for her because she’s become perfect in their mind?
(The whole “I vote for chidori cuz she’s more human, and cuz if that she’s perfect in my mind” arguement)

And Why do some chidori fans….wait…..rephrase.
And Why are some people voting at all just to spite belldandy? –I haven’t seen a chidori spite vote yet–
(The whole “Belldandy beat Shana, GO CHIDORI GO, EVEN THOUGH I DON’T LIKE YOU, OR KNOW YOU, BUT PLEASE BEAT BELLDANDY!” arguement)

AND WHY OH WHY did the chicken cross the road?
(The whole “to get to the other side” arguement)

There’s a lot of people voting more than once. I added a view results without voting feature. I don’t care if you want to get your friends to vote, but please don’t vote more than once. I’m sick of counting, but there’s at least 50 people who voted more than once, and out of those 50, it seems like 45 voted for Chidori. If I catch it again between now and when the poll closes, I’ll dock Chidori 500 votes.

Here’s some people caught red-handed. (Only pickin’ on ya since you have blogs. ^^)

Whatever the chances are, there is still hope…That Bell WILL win…beacause she and Keiichi truly define what love is, not beacause she is a goddess. To those who negatize her image, i say unto you… Even though the AMG series ends immediately or lasts up to five or more years, we will still support her as best we can. That is a statement i shall stand by till the day i go on to the next life, or better yet, till time ends.
Anyone objects…and he will indeed feel the meaning of “NUCLEAR HELL”.
To ALL AMG Fans…
Let us regroup, gather our forces, and with all our power, capabilities, strength and courage, deliver a crushing defeat to the enemy, as we have done to the Global Liberation Army…right NOW!
Thus I have spoken.

LOL, what if ppl are both a fan of belldandy and chidori?
Ok, i’ll add that entry
———————–

And WHY do belldandy and chidori fans (ppl that like both, aka ME) always put these long, annoying posts that tries to calm both sides down, as well as reiterate why both girls are good….without really accomplishing anything?
(the whole “belldandy is good, but so is chidori, why can’t we all just be friends?” arguement)

———————–

^_^

BTW, do watch full metal panic 1, fumoffu, and 2nd raid.

It’s a decent series. Chidori’s fairly interesting, just not nearly as fleshed out compared to belldandy. I think if you read the novels, (anime based on them), chidori would be even more interesting, though i can’t read jap.

And for fumoffu, i haven’t laughed so hard ever since azumanga daioh. (I would’ve loved to see sakaki thrown into the mix)

But again, growing up with belldandy, i know exactly what kinda character she is.

Both are interesting.

But comparing…well…Belldandy FTW, though i dun mind if chidori wins too.

I dont think many Bell haters voted for Chidori. Coz if they had, then the situation would be quite different right now!

And even thought its a pity that Bell will win, atleast us Chidori fans put up a good fight.

But then again these types of things are neither fair nor decisive. Its not fair coz Bell has had almost a decade’s lead from Chidori (first AMG OVA in 93). And its not decisive coz the newer generation will, and by large more guys with a realistic look on anime females, will go for Chidori.

Was there ever any doubt that Belldandy would take this thing home, given the way she’s been winning by a margin of 1-2% each time, and her opponents always lose dozens of decisive votes in the crucial home stretch? It’s like watching the Yankees or the Jackson-Kobe-Shaq era Lakers come back time after time after time – oh no, wait, it’s like watching Bob Davidson steal runs from the US’s opponents game after game in the WBC. Belldandy! You are the Yankees to me! The YANKEES!!!!

Wow…General Belldandy is victorious…and her fans’ strategic ‘spread the news’ have been an effective factor in Chidori’s defeat.However, Chidori’s fans have also shown admirable determination in sending reinforcements for her, only defeated by the fact that AMG came out earlier than FMP. I am hoping now for a one-on-one with Belle XD : Multitehnological Superiority vs. Heavenly Power :
On 2nd thought… i don’t stand a chance…Her face alone is enough to defeat me ^_^

I completely agree, Bell’s face is the best in the manga and anime world.It would just be soo good if they added Bell to the PS2/3 or PC game. A new title, not the old games. I would stay loyal to that franchise game untill they release another game of Bell.